The Tree
by Greenangelwings
Summary: A young Galinda drags Elphaba along to a tree to carve their names in it, but only Galinda gets the chance to, and for years they do not return to it. But the Tree has a story to tell a distraught and miserable Glinda the Good. .Gelphie. .Angst. .Twoshot.
1. Chapter 1

Galinda took a knife from her purse and Elphaba looked at her strangely.

"My dear, I do hope you haven't taken to murdering our classmates or small animals on campus. I shall be quite cross with you."

"Hush, you mean green thing." Galinda said with a smile, and took her green girlfriend's hand within her own. She walked with her down farther the shaded, almost invisible path down into the woods around Shiz. She stopped at a large tree, distinctive for the pink and green flowers that bloomed all year 'round. "I just want to carve our names in the tree."

"Why?" Elphaba asked.

"Because, don't you realize how cute and romantic it is? Just the symbolism, carving you and your love's name in a tree, so years and years later you can still come back and it'll be there." Galinda said, as she began to carve her initials into the bark.

"It's a pointless thing to do. The tree will probably be cut down in a few years."

"Elphie, must you be so stubborn and suck the fun out of everything?" Galinda pouted, and turned to her. Next to her head was a painstakingly simple carved heart, and within it, spelled out "G " she held out the knife for Elphaba to finish the carving.

Elphaba crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at the knife, then to the tree. She contemplated the idea of humoring her blonde beauty of a girlfriend, but this idea of a carving lasting for years was unrealistic and unimportant. What's to say they could even find their way back to this tree after years of behind away, or that this area would even exist? And the idea of a symbol, saying that they would be together forever raised hopes within the pit of Elphaba's heart, a feeling she had learned to ignore and degrade.

Galinda's eyes began to show a hint of worry, a speck of concern, a microscopic spot of embarrassment as the seconds turned into minutes, and Elphaba still didn't move nor reply.

"Elphie…?"

Elphaba didn't have to answer, for the clouds above them turned gray and Galinda dropped the knife.

"Sweet Oz, Elphaba we need to get you inside, quick!" Galinda hurriedly pulled along the slightly fearful and relived Elphaba along towards Shiz.

They never went back to the tree together.

* * *

**_AUTHORS NOTE:_** One more chapter after this one, then that's the end. 


	2. Chapter 2

Glinda, as she was called now, walked down a grassy path. The moon was high in the sky. But why was she here? There was no reason to be. She didn't enjoy hiking. She had no real liking to sightseeing, not in these woods anyway. She had begun walking in a trance after hearing another announcement of the Wicked Witch and her newly found accomplice, the old Captain of the Guards.

Or what it should have been said, her new lover.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes when she saw the top of a building.

She knew that building.

Goodness, how long had she been walking?

But she kept on walking, even after seeing the top of her old college's roof. Her feet didn't even hurt. Well maybe they did, she doubted she would be able to feel it. She probably couldn't feel a knife being stabbed into her back.

No, wait, she could. She felt it a while ago, and she was still feeling it to this day. The thought alone was like putting salt into the wound, and the blonde woman's face grew more and more unreadable by the minute.

She didn't watch where she was walking. Her shoe caught on a tree root and she fell. She cursed and slipped off her expensive shoes, now ruined by walking and a broken heel.

She let out a frustrated roar, and ripped off her other shoe and bashed it on the ground. The heel dug into the earth like a knife, and she stabbed it over and over and over. She threw the shoes in a rage against a tree, and the bark chipped. She curled her knees up to her face, and cried into the dirtied fabric of her skirts.

She shivered when a breeze whizzed past her, and she rubbed her arms to retain warmth. Her body moved instinctively, and her feet dragged on the grass underneath her as she picked up her ruined shoes. She stood up and her eyes came to meet a long forgotten scared bark. She wanted to take her shoe and bash that into nonexistence too, but something stopped her. What stared back at her wasn't what she had left all those years ago.

Within the heart was two unfamiliar things, a letter and a word.

_**G&E**_

**_Forever_**

Glinda's eyes could not hold back the bottled up tears, and they streamed down her cheeks, and her hands dropped the shoes and clasped onto the bark. She fell to her knees, and her forehead rested against the tree's trunk. If someone had seen her, it looked like she was begging, begging the tree for something.

For what?

She begged for her Elphie back.

But trees aren't meant to grant wishes, just tell the silent stories carved into them.


End file.
